Penn State’s Life Sentence: Beyond the NCAA Sanctions

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Hell hath no fury like a football
fan scorned. This morning in Indianapolis, the NCAA stripped Penn
State’s wins from 1998 through 2011, bombed it with a $60 million fine,
yanked its scholarships, banned it from bowl games for four years, and
opened the floodgates for current players to transfer. It wasn’t the
death penalty. It was a life sentence. (Read the NCAA’s full statement here.)

“Football
will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing, and
protecting young people,” said NCAA president Mark Emmert.

He
didn’t have the leadership to do it himself, but interim university
president Rodney Erickson accepted the penalties for the university,
though many Penn Staters did not. Students literally held their breath
while watching the NCAA press conference on television.